Week Three

September 15, 2010 7:30pm

Even though we have not finished the film "Iron Jawed Angels" yet, I left class today feeling really inspired and empowered. I feel like I have a great deal to thank Alice Paul and Lucy Burns for. I decided to look up more about the history of the two women because I wanted to see how accurately they were portrayed in the film and I was surprised by two things. One, both women are highly educated, more so than I thought. And two, the movie told the story of these women and the NWP with incredible accuracy.

One thing that I really noticed while watching the film is the symbolism of the hat. The hat was one of the first images on the screen and it was an argument between the two women who would get it. Lucy got it at first, but ultimately it went to Alice. It became Alice's favorite hat, something that she always wore in public. It became the distinction between when she was working and wearing that "political" persona and when she was not wearing the hat at home, relaxing, or by herself. It is interesting because Ben kept saying he wanted her to take the hat off. Once she finally did, she let him into her world. She spent the day with him, seemingly enjoying herself, but as he tried to kiss her, she realized that this was not something she could do. She later made a statement to Lucy about needing to be alone because you did not have to answer to anyone when you were alone. The next time she saw Ben, she was not wearing the hat, and he said "I liked you better with the hat on". This exemplifies the fact that Ben supports her beliefs and ambitions about suffrage. Her hat is lost and she is scattered to find it, again, exemplifying that she needs it to go out because of its symbolism of being "her" hat, the one she is always wearing. I think the hat makes just as much of a journey in this film as Alice does and I am curious to see where it ends up.